Medical inspections are designed to check on the standard of hygiene in the camps and the state of health of the internees. The cleanliness of premises occupied by large numbers of people is essential to the physical well-being of the inmates and it was important for its supervision to be placed in the hands of the medical authorities themselves. The medical inspections might well have been arranged at more frequent intervals. The International Committee had, for example, suggested that mobile medical teams should be responsible for them. The Government Experts considered, however, that monthly inspections would suffice, provided that attention was directed to the detection of the main contagious diseases -- tuberculosis, venereal diseases and malaria (1). Their view was endorsed by the Diplomatic Conference. A person's weight is a very reliable indication of his state of health (2); checking of weight was therefore expressly mentioned as being a duty of the inspecting doctors. [p.403] Radioscopic examinations, the results of which are so helpful in making or confirming medical diagnoses, were merely recommended by the experts and the International Committee. The Diplomatic Conference, wishing to emphasize their importance, stipulated that they should take place at least once a year.

Notes: (1) [(1) p.402] See ' Report on the Work of the Conference of Government Experts, ' pp. 148-149;